Welcome back. California's Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a new
executive order directing Allstate agencies to remove homeless encampments from
public properties.
The governor says the move is in the interest of
public health,
but advocates say it could cause even more damage to
an already vulnerable population.
For more, let's bring in Donald Whitehead.
He is the executive director of the National Coalition for
the Homeless.
Donald, appreciate your time this morning.
Thank you for joining us.
I know you know homelessness in California.
It's been an issue lawmakers been grappling with for a
long time.
What are your main concerns with Governor Newsom's executive order
and what happens to people who live in these encampments
once they're removed?
Sure. So first of all,
thank you for having me and thank you for addressing
this issue.
There are many things that I think have negative impacts
for people experiencing homelessness because of this order.
First and foremost is that it does nothing
to solve homelessness, safety issues,
or anything else related to the people in those encampments.
When you move people frequently from encampment to encampment,
it does not solve their homelessness,
it makes their homelessness worse,
and it makes the path out of homelessness harder.
And I think it's driven by the belief that people
somehow want to be in this condition.
People are forced into homelessness by structural issues,
and this order does not address any of those structural
issues.
Governor Newsom said he issued the order because the makeshift
camps,
they can lack electricity and running water,
and they pose an urgent public health and safety hazard.
How do you respond to some of those concerns?
Well, we don't want people in shelters either.
I'm sorry. We don't want people in encampments either.
Encampments are are are not
in in any way a way for people to live
in the richest country in the world.
People are sleeping on the ground,
they're sleeping in tents. They're not safe.
There's no locks on their doors.
So we are not in any way promoting encampments.
What we're saying is that the solution
to reducing the number of people living on the streets
and encampments is to do it in a compassionate,
humane way that involves permanent housing
or temporary shelter. But moving people into a facility,
whether it be a permanent housing unit or a shelter,
prior to sweeping them away.
Because when you sweep them away and you don't have
a destination,
they're still outside, they're still homeless.
You haven't addressed the safety issues you've talked about.
And it's much more expensive to criminalize people,
arrest them, find them and put them in jail than
it is to actually provide
housing or and supportive services,
which is how we solve homelessness.
And that that approach is effective
90% of the time. Let's talk about the root of
the issue here,
which is, of course, incredibly complicated.
It is a number of issues.
But the California Senate says
28% of the nation's homeless population lives in the Golden
State.
I used to live in California.
I saw it within blocks of where I lived.
Why is it so many people in California are experiencing
homelessness?
I would encourage people to read Greg
Colburn's book, It's called Homelessness is a Housing Crisis.
The number one reason, it is very complex,
as you said, but the number one reason people are
homeless is the lack of affordable housing.
In California in particular, there are
dramatically increasing housing cost and limited availability of affordable housing.
Only 1/4 of the people eligible for subsidizing housing where
they could get some support if they can't actually pay
for the housing themselves.
Only one quarter of the people that are eligible actually
received the housing because of lack of units.
We saw 12% increase in housing
in in homelessness. We also saw an
18% year over year increase in housing costs.
It's a housing issue. We have to dramatically increase housing
production in this country or we'll continue to see the
the numbers rise.
Interesting fact about Los Angeles.
The homeless system will house over 700 people a year,
but then the next day 700 morals show up.
We don't have adequate wages.
We don't have enough affordable housing.
Structural racism is an issue in California.
All of these things make for a very complex issue,
as you said, and myopic solutions are quick fix solutions
like criminalization do nothing but make the the issue worst.
Donald White had an important conversation.
We appreciate you taking the time to talk with us
this morning.
Well, thank you so much for having me and,
and please continue to talk about this issue.
It is really important. These are human beings we're talking
about.
We'll continue to shine a light on it.